IT IS SO SO SO HOT

So today it was 91 degrees and about 85% humidity! Today was also the first day we had to dress up in business clothes! So not only was it that hot but we had to walk to orientation in nice clothes in the heat! I guess it prepares us for our internships and how we have to dress everyday though!

We had orientation today from 9:30am-1pm, and it was a bit overwhelming! They gave us some really helpful information on how to figure out addresses in DC since the streets are lettered so when you have an address with 1015 NW 18th St it can be confusing to figure out the cross street. So all you have to do is find the 10th letter of the alphabet and then you have the cross street - but you have to skip J which is kind of weird! Apparently it is a DC myth that Pierre L'Enfant who designed the city of DC was arguing with John J (who i think was a congressman) about the layout of the city and L'Enfant was annoyed and organized the city so there was no J Street!

They also talked to us about our internship experience which was the overwhelming part! They basically said that our first week or first two weeks will be like boot camp, and we have to be learning machines! We are supposed to be reading 150 pages a week about our institution or on subjects that relate to our institution, which is CRAZY!! We can also get tested on what we read - and the president of the Washington Internship Institute said that in DC they reward for people who learn and know things! So basically we are supposed to know A LOT and know it really really fast! And then they told us about networking and how we needed to have business cards and talk to people and go to events and meet important people! At this point it seems like A LOT and really overwhelming, but hopefully everything settles down into a normal routine after the first two weeks!

We also visited our internship sites and talked on the phone with our supervisors - and my supervisor seems really nice, so that eleveated some of my worries about the scariness of doing this internship.

We also saw the Vice President's House (picture at top) through the trees when we visited the Embassy of Iraq, which is where my suitemate is interning, which was pretty cool!